The budget passed last week by the state legislature would save a program that helps low-income youth enter the workforce.
Representative Bruce Franks (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Governor Eric Greitens’ (R) budget proposal would have cut all funding to the Summer Jobs League within the Department of Economic Development. It had $8.5-million last year. The House had proposed restoring $6-million to the program. It compromised with the Senate to fund it at $4-million in fiscal year 2018.
The Summer Jobs League gives 16- to 24-year-olds from low-income homes in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas work opportunities in fields they’re interested in. The League pays up to $8.50 an hour for 240 hours. Business owners don’t have to pay those employees while they are enrolled in the League, but often hire those employees after their time in the league is up.
Franks said it provides important opportunities for young adults whose lives might otherwise lack structure.
The legislature has passed a budget that aims to make state agencies more accountable when lawsuits against them cost taxpayer dollars.
House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty made creating transparency with the legal expense fund one of her priorities this session. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Lawmakers learned last fall that the Department of Corrections had reached millions of dollars in settlements in recent years with employees who had been harassed, discriminated against, and in some cases retaliated against. Legislators said they didn’t know about apparent ongoing issues in Corrections because of how money for settlements was identified in the budget.
Settlements had come out of a single line in the budget called the legal expense fund, which had no spending limit. That meant legislators did not know how much money was being spent on settlements each year, and agencies didn’t have to explain to the legislature what was behind lawsuits against them.
The budget for the year starting July 1 would cap that line at $16-million. If settlements exceed that, the Office of Administration can pull up to $10-million from other funds it controls. If that isn’t enough, OA can then take money directly from the budget of the department involved in a given settlement.
The Attorney General has said he will also report to the legislature every month on the activity of the legal expense fund. House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (R-Shell Knob) said that’s why even if OA has to go to any of those additional places for settlement money, it must all pass through that fund.
House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Meanwhile the House has passed a bill that would require by law those monthly reports from the governor, but with the process moving slowly in recent weeks, House Democrat Leader Gail McCann Beatty (Kansas City) said she’s looking for other bills to which she can add that language.
Legislators believe that with the new budget provisions and reporting by the attorney general any future situations like that uncovered at Corrections will be exposed.
Meanwhile, a House subcommittee launched to investigate corrections and recommend changes in that department is close to releasing its report.
The legislature’s budget proposal is now awaiting action by Governor Eric Greitens (R).
Missouri drivers could see fewer impaired driving checkpoints under the budget proposed by the legislature.
House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (left) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Dan Brown (right) conduct a budget conference committee hearing in the House Lounge on May 3, 2017. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Language added by the House would prevent money in that budget from being used on checkpoints. It could still be used for other enforcement efforts, and many lawmakers said they would prefer to see it used for saturation efforts – periods of increased numbers of law enforcement personnel on the roads.
House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (R-Shell Knob) said saturation efforts are more effective.
Representative Kathie Conway (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
The shift was strongly opposed by the Representative Kathie Conway (R-St. Charles), who chairs the subcommittee on the Department of Public Safety’s budget.
Several House Democrats agreed that they would rather have seen law enforcement allowed to continue using state appropriated funds for checkpoints, however the change was supported by several members of the legislature with law enforcement backgrounds.
Fitzpatrick said he wants to at least see some results.
The change means that for the fiscal year beginning July 1, law enforcement agencies can still conduct DUI checkpoints, but they cannot use funds allocated by the state budget to pay for them.
The House and Senate voted Thursday to send that budget plan to Governor Eric Greitens (R), one day ahead of its constitutional deadline.
The state legislature has passed a budget proposal that for the first time fully funds the current form of the K-12 education funding formula. The $27.7-billion spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1 would pump $48-million more dollars into the state’s public schools, providing them with nearly $3.4-billion.
Representative Scott Fitzpatrick (photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
The inclusion of full funding of the formula was a personal win for House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (R-Shell Knob).
House Democrats including Representative Deb Lavender (Kirkwood) say they are pleased with the funding increase, but point out that the legislature passed last year a bill reinstating a cap on how much the formula can grow year-to-year.
The legislature’s proposal would also restore funding for school transportation, which Governor Eric Greitens (R) had proposed cutting.
The House and Senate voted to send that budget to Greitens Thursday, one day ahead of the constitutional deadline, and one day after selected House and Senate conferees finalized a compromise between each chamber’s proposals.
The legislature’s top responsibility enters its final push this week, as Friday is the constitutional deadline for it to propose a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Beginning tomorrow, selected House and Senate members will work to negotiate a compromise between each chamber’s budget proposals. Any compromise the two sides reach must then be voted on by 6 p.m. Friday to be sent to Governor Eric Greitens (R).
The House proposed that the state should for the first time fully support the formula for funding K-12 schools. Early discussions in the Senate suggested it would do otherwise, but it decided to follow suit. That was the top priority for House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (R-Shell Knob), and with both chambers agreeing on it, he says his priority now is clear.
“A balanced budget,” Fitzpatrick said.
Getting there by Friday, however, will be challenging. The difference between the two chambers’ budget proposals is somewhere beyond $100-million.
Fitzpatrick said much of that difference is in projects the Senate added when they were planning not to fully fund the K-12 education formula. When the Senate voted to instead fund the formula, it didn’t remove those projects.
Another substantial difference between the two proposals concerns “Es.” For several years, legislative budget makers have used an “E” at the end of a budget line to represent an open-ended spending limit. This was often used in places where predicting how much would be needed over the course of a fiscal year was particularly difficult, and it would allow an entity to exceed the budgeted amount if necessary. The effort to remove Es began several years ago, and the House proposed a budget that completed that removal.
The Senate restored some Es to various places in the budget. Fitzpatrick wants to remove those in the final compromise. He said their presence in the Senate’s proposal also distorts how far apart the House and Senate plans are.
Fitzpatrick said he doesn’t know how many more such examples exist throughout the budget plans.
One line of particular importance to Fitzpatrick and others in the House is the state’s legal expense fund, which has had an E on it. That line has been the focus of great legislative attention this year after the revelation that the Department of Corrections has settled millions of dollars in lawsuits in recent years in cases of employee harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.
With an E on that line – the line from which comes the money for all settlements with the state – Corrections never had to come before a legislative committee to explain what was behind the multiple, large settlements. Lawmakers say that kept them in the dark as to the environment and repeated issues in the Corrections Department.
The House’s proposal replaced that line with lines in the budgets of each state agency. That meant any future settlement would come out of the involved agency’s budget, and if it had so many that it exceeded what the legislature appropriated, it would have to explain why to lawmakers. The Senate returned the legal expense fund to being a single line in the budget. Fitzpatrick and House members strongly want to see the House’s version restored.
House and Senate conferees begin meeting Tuesday morning. Their goal is to have a compromise ready for each chamber to vote on by Friday. Failure to meet the state Constitution’s deadline could mean legislators will have to meet in a special session, after the regular session ends on May 20, to complete a budget.
The House has voted to increase transparency when lawsuits against state agencies are settled. The legislation was prompted by the revelation that millions of tax dollars were paid out over several years in settling harassment and discrimination cases against the Department of Corrections.
Representative Paul Fitzwater (R-Potosi) carried HCB 7 on the House Floor. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
House Committee Bill 7 would require the attorney general to report every month to the legislature and others about how the state’s legal expense fund – the fund from which money for settlements is taken – has been used.
Those cases against Corrections came to light late last year when an article on Pitch.com detailed several of them, and outlined how employees who complained about being harassed or discriminated against were victims of retaliation by fellow Corrections staff members.
House members said after the article came out that they were unaware of the settlements because those have been paid out of a line in the budget that has no spending limit on it. That meant departments never had to come to the legislature and justify how much their settlement agreements were costing the state.
St. Charles Republican Kathie Conway, who chairs the appropriations committee that oversees Corrections, said this bill is needed.
House Democrat Leader Gail McCann Beatty hopes to prevent state employees who have complained of harassment or discrimination from having to sign gag orders as part of court settlements. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
House Democrat leader Gail McCann Beatty (Kansas City) proposed that the reporting should cover all state agencies and not just the Department of Corrections. She said the reporting requirements could lead the legislature to make changes in policies or laws to address issues resulting in lawsuits in other agencies.
She hopes the legislature will go further and address the signing of gag orders by state employees who complain of harassment or discrimination, as some in the Corrections cases did under the terms of their settlements.
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley (R) announced in March he would begin monthly reporting on the activity of the legal expense fund. Legislators praised his decision but said HCB 7 is still needed to ensure future attorneys general will follow suit.
Hawley’s first such report comes out April 30.
HCB 7 would also require the Department of Corrections’ director to meet with the House’s committee overseeing that department twice each year to discuss issues with that department.
The House voted 150-1 to send the bill to the Senate, but only two weeks remain in the legislative session for that body to consider it.
Missouri legislative Republicans’ labor reform agenda took another step Thursday with the final passage of a bill barring project labor agreements (PLAs) for public projects.
Representative Rob Vescovo began proposing a ban on project labor agreements for public projects when he was first elected to the House for the 2015 session. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
The House voted to send Senate Bill 182 to Governor Eric Greitens (R), who had called for the elimination of PLAs.
Under a PLA, a governing body requires non-union contractors to pay union dues to workers on a project. SB 182 would prohibit that, and would bar local governments from giving preferential treatment to union contractors. Governing bodies that violate the bill’s provisions would lose state funding and tax credits for two years.
Republicans said PLAs are unfair to non-union workers and contractors. Arnold representative Rob Vescovo (R) said PLAs discriminate against the largest segment of Missouri’s workforce.
Representative Bob Burns said project labor agreements are good tools for local governments, which the legislature should not move to take away. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Democrats called the legislation an attack on unions. Representative Bob Burns (D-St. Louis) said PLAs protect local governments by ensuring that they will have work done that is quality and completed on time by skilled workers. He said his time on a board of education in Affton provided evidence of that.
SB 182 was carried in the House by Vescovo, who began introducing such legislation as a freshman in 2015. It is expected Greitens will sign the bill into law.
The House’s passage of SB 182 follows other labor reforms it has proposed, including the passage of a right-to-work bill signed into law by Greitens earlier this year. That legislation prevents the collection of union dues or fees from workers as a condition of employment.
The state House has voted twice this session to relax Missouri’s law requiring that helmets be worn by motorcycle riders.
Representative Shane Roden offered an amendment to a Senate bill to ease Missouri’s motorcycle helmet law. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Members voted earlier this month to pass House Bill 576, and on Tuesday voted for an amendment to Senate Bill 8, both containing the same language. They would allow riders 21 and older who have completed a motorcycle safety course or who have had their motorcycle license for at least two years to ride without a helmet if they have insurance.
Missouri legislators have for years debated easing the state’s helmet law. While both measures received favorable votes, the issue stirs passion in both proponents and opponents, and both sides of the issue are bipartisan.
The amendment to SB 8 was offered by Cedar Hill representative Shane Roden, who said he rides motorcycles himself. He said he would wear a helmet most of the time even if the law is changed, but he wants the freedom to ride without it.
Representative Keith Frederick opposes proposals offered again this year by fellow Republicans to relax Missouri’s motorcycle helmet law. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
St. Joseph Republican Delus Johnson said as a motorcycle rider, he feels he is “grouped in” by the state’s helmet law with those who ride while intoxicated or ride recklessly.
Supporters also argue that allowing people to ride in Missouri without helmets would increase tourism. They say many riders and groups deliberately avoid the state because of its helmet law.
HB 576, sponsored by High Ridge Republican John McCaherty, is awaiting a vote by a Senate committee. SB 8 has been sent back to the Senate with several amendments that that chamber must consider.
Two state representatives have asked Missourians to remember the Holocaust on Yom HaShoah, the day Israel commemorates the six million Jews killed in that event.
Representatives Shamed Dogan (left) and Stacey Newman speak in the Missouri House about Holocaust remembrance. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communication)
St. Louis Democrat Stacey Newman and Ballwin Republican Shamed Dogan spoke on the House Floor on Monday, as Yom HaShoah was being observed. In Israel, the day is marked by ceremonies, the closing by law of entertainment facilities, and a two-minute moment of silence during which most people stop what they’re doing for solemn reflection. This includes motorists stopping and standing by their vehicles in the roadway.
Newman’s husband’s father, aunts, uncle, and grandmother are Holocaust survivors who escaped Nazi Germany in 1938. Many of his grandmother’s sisters, brothers-in-law, and other family members, were never accounted for.
She and Dogan, whose wife is Jewish, say they will spend the next year working together to revive the Missouri Holocaust Education and Awareness Commission Act of 2006.
Missouri House members observe a minute of silence in remembrance of the victims, survivors, and heroes of the Holocaust. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Dogan said he and Newman would work with the St. Louis Holocaust Museum & Learning Center and the state’s universities and public schools to keep the Act alive.
HCR 35 would ask the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) to prioritize resolution of the cases of those 15 men.
“This is a country that should honor and revere its heroes. This should not be a nation that forgets those that have given their lives in services, and we should not be a people who abandon those who have fought and died for our freedoms,” said Hurst.
Hurst shared on the House floor the story of Private First Class Paul Alfred Hasenbeck of Freeburg, who disappeared while returning from a patrol in Vietnam. His sister, Jeanie, is still looking for information on what happened to him.
St. Joseph Democrat Pat Conway is a Vietnam Veteran. He said people who fought for this country should not be left behind, and their families should not be left with questions.
Besides Hasenbeck, the Resolution lists the other 14 Missourians who fought in Vietnam and are presumed dead: First Lieutenant Steven Neil Bezold, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Donald Martin Cramer, First Lieutenant William R. Edmondson, Private First Class Dickey W. Finley, First Lieutenant Frederick William Hess Jr., Lieutenant Junior Grade Charles Weldon Marik, Major Carl D. Miller, First Lieutenant Bernard Herbert Plassmeyer, Lieutenant Colonel Dayton William Ragland, First Lieutenant Dwight G. Rickman, Captain Robert Page Rosenbach, Captain John W. Seuell, First Lieutenant George Craig Smith, and Sergeant Randolph Bothwell Suber.
The resolution has been sent to the Senate for its consideration.
